Ottawa overcame a two goal deficit to defeat the Devils in OT–their second straight comeback that resulted in an overtime winner from Daniel Alfredsson.  I missed the opening 15 minutes of the game and the second period felt like it took three hours, but the Sens delivered an exciting finish.  Chris Phillips left the game with an injury, but as yet I haven’t seen or heard any updates (I’d guess Mark Borowiecki would be recalled if neither Phillips nor Gonchar can play).  Click here for the box score.  A quick look at the goals:
1. New Jersey, Zubrus
Konopka turns the puck over to Sykora and Phillips can’t handle Zubrus who bangs in the rebound
2. New Jersey, Clarkson
Carkner loses a battle along the boards and Anderson bobbles Zajac’s weak shot which trickles behind him to be batted in by Clarkson
3. Spezza (Karlsson, Anderson)
Sweet pass from Karlsson sends Spezza in all alone
4. Condra (Kuba) (sh)
Kuba creates the turnover and Condra simply throws the puck at the net
5. Alfredsson (Karlsson, Spezza) (pp)
Fires it through Brodeur from the faceoff dot

Top-performers:
Filip Kuba – continues to be a rock defensively
Erik Condra – great in all three zones
Daniel Alfredsson – captain clutch gets his second-straight OT winner

Players who struggled:
Brian Lee – too many turnovers
Matt Carkner – along with Neil he was a team-worst -2 and can’t be losing puck battles along the boards

–The Ottawa Sun‘s Aedan Helmer writes about last night’s game (link) with Devils coach Peter DeBoer saying, “(The Senators) don’t give up, they hung in. They took advantage of their opportunities, it wasn’t like we handed them 10 or 15 scoring chances, we gave them a couple and they stuck it in. Credit to them, and we’ve got to move forward.”  You have to credit the Devils for continuing to play boring hockey.

–The Ottawa Sun‘s Don Brennan writes about Erik Karlsson‘s minutes played (link) and includes an amusing quote from Paul MacLean, “We talked to him about it early, when I got here, said we’d like to play him 30 minutes but we want to make sure they’re all for us.”

–Calgary Sun‘s Scott Fisher writes a fluff piece about Mika Zibanejad (link) which doesn’t include much that’s new other than Zibanejad‘s perspective on last year’s WJC performance, “I think that’s what happened last year. We were so happy after the Canada game.”

-Joy Lindsay Tweets that Andre Petersson is ready to return to the lineup.  Here were the lines at practice: Klinkhammer-Locke-Petersson, Hoffman-Da Costa-Grant, Dziurzynski-Cannone-Bartlett, Gratchev-Hamilton-Cowick/Lessard; Gryba-Borowiecki, Raymond-Conboy, Godfrey-Schira.  She confirms that Patrick Wiericoch is out long-term which is no surprise, while Jim O’Brien hasn’t started skating and Mark Parrish is expected out until after the all-star break.  I don’t think the loss of Parrish hurts the team the way losing Corey Locke did.  Wiercioch leaves a big void however, as the Sens don’t have any other A-grade offensive blueliners in their lineup.

-I watched both WJC quarter final games yesterday, with the Finnish-Slovak game atrocious on about every level (including horrible officiating which has been the norm throughout the tournament) while the Russian-Czech game was a great one to watch (Sens prospect Jakub Culek scored the lone Czech goal).

January 3, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

I’m making a change in how I post going forward.  Over the past few months I’ve focussed on getting out my posts as soon as possible and while I will continue to be timely I’m going to put more emphasis on analysis and opinions.

–The Ottawa Sun lineup has Gonchar back while Carkner sits

–The Ottawa Citizen confirms that it was Chris Neil who hit Gonchar in warm-up, not Kyle Turris (as the CBC indicated)

–The Ottawa Sun‘s Don Brennan writes about Erik Karlsson (link), but I was more interested in comments about the team’s willingness to battle beginning with Paul MacLean, “You’ve got to keep playing, we’ve tried to instill that from the first day of training camp. We want to be a team that can compete for 60 or 65 minutes. However long it takes. We want to make sure we’re there and playing hard. Things aren’t always going to go our way, but we have to be able to respond to adversity, play the game and play it hard.”  Karlsson adds, “I think everybody feels great here, we’ve felt great the whole season long. The plan on everybody’s condition has been really good. The further we go in the season, the better everybody is going to get. Just a good feeling in the room everytime we come off the ice for intermission.  I think we never quit, we always stick to it. We know if we do that we’re going to end up doing great things and come away with points.”

-Calgary blueliner Cory Sarich was fined $2,500 for his hit on Erik Condra.  This is as much as could be expected, but given the relative weight the low fine has it’s largely meaningless.  This kind of limp response to head shots is a big reason why concussions are such a big issue in the league.  It’s ironic that NHL management is the problem–when they discuss solutions they simply need a giant mirror to define it.

-ESPN and Sportsnet‘s power rankings are out (link and link) with Ottawa 20th and 16th.

–Senshot‘s Jared Crozier is writing a full calendar year in review of the Sens and it’s worth checking out (part one and part two)

-There’s no word yet about a suspension for Robin Lehner who became engaged with a linesman when he tried to join a brawl in Binghamton’s last game.  You’d think the linesman had more important things to do then stop the goalie, but the move will likely cost Lehner a few games.

-Prospect updates (their position in team scoring is noted in brackets, defence compared to defence; I’ve also indicated if the player’s scoring position has change (with a + for up, – for down, and = for unchanged):
CHL
Mark Stone (RW, Brandon, WHL) 33-27-38-65 (1st=) (WJC 4-7-2-9)
Shane Prince (C/LW, Ottawa 67s, OHL) 28-16-24-40 (3rd=)
Stefan Noesen (C/RW, Plymouth, OHL) 32-16-23-39 (2nd+)  
Jean-Gabriel Pageau (RW, Gatineau, QMJHL) 21-20-16-36 (3rd+)
Matt Puempel (LW, Peterborough, OHL) 29-17-15-32 (2nd-) (suspended)
Jakub Culek (C/LW, Rimouski, QMJHL) 32-8-15-23 (5th=) (WJC 3-0-3-3)
Darren Kramer (C/LW, Spokane, WHL) 33-12-8-20 (6th=)
Jordan Fransoo (D, Brandon, WHL) 39-2-7-9 (4th=)
SEL
Jakob Silfverberg (C/RW, Brynas) 28-12-13-25 (2nd+)
Mika Zibanejad (C/RW, Djurgarden) 13-3-3-6 (14th=) (WJC 4-3-1-4)
Fredrik Claesson (D, Djurgarden) 29-1-4-5 (4th=) (WJC 4-0-0-0)
Allsvenskan
Marcus Sorensen (RW, Boras) 17-6-5-11 (6th=)
NCAA
Ryan Dzingel (C, CCHA-Ohio State) 18-5-11-16 (3rd=)
Michael Sdao (D, ECAC-Princeton) 16-5-5-10 (1st=)
Ben Blood (D, WCHA-North Dakota) 20-2-8-10 (2nd-)
Bryce Aneloski (D, WCHA-Nebraska-Omaha) 22-1-9-10 (t-2nd+)
Chris Wideman (D, CCHA-Miami) 20-1-8-9 (1st=)
Jeff Costello (LW, CCHA-Notre Dame) 16-2-6-8 (9th=)
Max McCormick (LW, CCHA-Ohio State) 11-2-4-6 (12th=)
Brad Peltz (LW, ECAC-Yale) 4-1-0-1 (=)

Notes: Peltz earns his first ever NCAA point after being scratched all of last year; Silfverberg returns from injury; Sdao continues to put up points above expectations.

January 2, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment

Ottawa edged the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 last night in a game they dominated, out shooting Buffalo 46-28 and hitting six posts/crossbars.  They lost Sergei Gonchar in warm-up after he took a puck in the head from Kyle Turris and then lost Filip Kuba late in overtime as he was pushed awkwardly into the boards.  The Sens were also guilty of taking a ton of dumb penalties.  Click here for the box score.  A look at the goals:
1. Buffalo, Boyes (pp)
Leopold hits Anderson in the head and Boyes fires the rebound into an empty net
2. Carkner (Turris, Condra)
Condra turns the puck over and Turris sends Carkner in all alone who beats Enroth high on the short side
3. Buffalo, Gaustad
Tips in a point shot
4. Neil (Condra, Smith)
Sprung on a breakaway

Top-performers:
Erik Condra – a great game in all three zones and assisted on both goals
Filip Kuba – a rock defensively

Players who struggled:
Jared Cowen – lead the team in turnovers and seems to have lost his confidence

Binghamton got hammered 6-2 in a penalty-filled affair that saw a number of ejections.  Klinkhammer and Dziurzynski scored while Robin Lehner took the loss.  Here is the box score and Joy Lindsay’s game summary.

Elmira beat Trenton 2-1, with Jack Downing scored, Louie Caporusso picking up an assist, and Brian Stewart earning the win.

January 1, 2012
Categories: Binghamton Senators, Ottawa Senators . . Author: Eye on the Sens . Comments: Leave a comment